Lacoste is a high-end
apparel company founded in 1933 that sells high-end clothing,
footwear, perfume, leather goods, watches, eyewear, and most
famously tennis shirts. The company is most commonly
recognized by its green crocodile logo.

René Lacoste founded La
Chemise Lacoste in 1933 with André Gillier, the owner and President
of the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm at the time. They
began to produce the revolutionary tennis shirt Lacoste had designed
and worn on the tennis courts with the crocodile logo embroidered on
the chest. In addition to tennis shirts, Lacoste produced
shirts for golf and sailing. In 1951, the company began to expand as
it branched from "tennis white" and introduced color shirts. In
1952, the shirts were exported to the United States and advertised
as "the status symbol of the competent sportsman," influencing the
clothing choices of the upper-class. It is still one of the most
popular brands in the United States, sporting the "preppy wardrobe".

In the early '50s,
Bernard Lacoste teamed up with David Crystal, who at the time owned
Izod, to produce Izod Lacoste clothing. In the 1970s and 1980s, it
was extremely popular with teenagers who called the shirts simply
Izod. While the union was both profitable and popular, Izod
Lacoste's parent company (David Crystal Co.) was saddled with debt
from other business ventures. When attempts to separate Izod and
Lacoste to create revenue did not alleviate the debt, Crystal sold
his half of Lacoste back to the French and Izod
was sold to Van
Heusen. However, starting in 2000, with the hiring of a new fashion
designer Christophe Lemaire, Lacoste began to take over control of
its brand name and logo, reigning in their branding arrangements.
Currently Lacoste has once again returned to the elite status it
held before a brand management crisis circa 1990.

Note: The Lacoste
polo shirts pictured above was being sold at Bloomingdales
April 2011. They are the Lacoste classic short sleeve
piqué polo is his go-to shirt with the signature Lacoste crocodile
embroidered on the left chest. Even, vented hem. In soft, strong and
fine cotton that has a superior and lightweight hand. Finished with
a small amount of resin which enhances color fastness, minimizes
shrinkage and yields better resistance to abrasion. Pearlized buttons are white on lighter
colors and smoky-hued on dark colors.